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Poster:	Bill T.	Date:	Jul 19, 2004 1:53pm
Forum:	movie_of_the_week	Subject:	Disneyland influennces?

I can't help but wonder how much influence these fairs had with Walt Disney while he was preparing his new theme parks. More specifically, Epcot.

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Poster:	ridetheory	Date:	Jul 19, 2004 1:58pm
Forum:	movie_of_the_week	Subject:	Re: Disneyland influennces?

I've read a lot about Disneyland, and I can't find any evidence that Walt went to the 1939 Fair. Regardless, it was such a big thing in the media of the day, that he simply had to be aware of it. It was pretty clearly an influence on the physical design of Disneyland (radial design, big central architectural doo-dad).

Epcot is pretty much a direct rip-off of the 1939 Fair -- the spheres in the center of both are almost exactly the same size (18 stories tall) and the layout is amazingly similar. Commercial exhibits in front, sphere in middle, lagoon surrounded by national pavilions in back.